Karnataka stampede report mentions Virat Kohli: ‘RCB did not consult police before inviting people’

The stampede occurred outside the stadium as RCB celebrated its inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) victory.

The Karnataka government has stated in its report to the High Court that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) invited people for a victory parade to Chinnaswamy stadium "unilaterally" and "without consultation/ permission" from city police, according to a report by NDTV.

The Karnataka High Court has ordered the state government to release the stampede report concerning the stampede outside Chinnaswamy Stadium that took place on June 4 and claimed 11 lives. The court ordered disclosure to the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and DNA Entertainment Networks.

According to the report,  the RCB management contacted police on June 3, the same day that RCB won the IPL.

The report stated that this was an intimation and  not a requisition for permission as required under the law. It alleged that no applications in the prescribed formats were submitted to the licensing authority by the applicant/organiser.

“In the absence of such information required under the prescribed formats, it was not possible for the licence-granting authority to consider the request positively. Accordingly, the PI of the Cubbon Park Police Station did not grant the permission to the request made by KSCA on 03.06.2025 at around 6.30 pm, due to a lack of information regarding the expected approximate gathering, arrangements made, possible bottlenecks, and the like, for both possible outcomes of the final match, i.e., whether RCB won or lost," the report stated as quoted by NDTV.

The report also stated that the RCB, without consulting the police, posted a photo at 7.01 am the next day on its official social media handles, "informing that there is free entry for people and inviting the public to participate in the Victory Parade, which would commence at Vidhana Soudha and conclude at Chinnaswamy Stadium".

Another post was made at 8 am, reiterating this information. "Subsequently, on 04.06.2025, at 8:55 am, the RCB shared a video clip of Mr. Virat Kohli, a prominent player of the RCB team, on RCB's official handle @Rcbtweets on X, in which he stated that the team intended to celebrate this victory with the people of Bengaluru city and RCB fans on 04.06.2025 in Bengaluru," the report stated.

According to the report, the posts by the RCB handles got a combined 44 lakh views. "This led to a public gathering of immense proportions, exceeding 3,00,000, individuals. One basis for estimating the crowd size is the BMRCL ridership numbers for 04.06.2025, which transported around 9.66 lakh persons on that date (with the average ridership on regular days being around 6 lakh persons per day). Therefore, including those who travelled on foot, used public transport, and private means on 04.06.2025, the estimated gathering would be well beyond 3,00,000, individuals,"the report stated.